St Jude Chapel-Downtown

St Jude’s makeshift sanctamonium is as chapels are, small, and a sort of unusual space that is subtly retrofitted to evoke spirituality.
From the street the technicolor art and style looks like an outdated 1960s department store. Inside, mosaic art panels and sculptures of Saints reside in moody shadows of tract lighting.
The curved parabolic ceiling leads to a mod skylight that has been treated with a modern blue stained glass.
Go buy some holy water, $ 1.50, or a rosary (which start at $ 10) in the lobby gift shop, attend mass or just go meditate inside.
It’s open every day all day long.
The kind woman at the gift shop gently assured me with a smile that the pastor was very open minded.

Hey Jude don’t be afraid
St. Jude is the patron saint of lost causes. There is a large affinity around the world to him, as he is the saint of last recourse. The name is often a signal. For example, many are aware of St. Jude Hospital. It’s a place for children with terrible sicknesses, many who come there as a last hope. As a kid i remember reading special classified posts in the local paper to St. Jude in gratitude for a miracle being granted. They were often signed anonymously. Other believers in Santeria will often place a statuette of St. Jude on it’s head until their prayer is resolved or light a candle with the saint pictured on it.
Therefore for a church or a chapel to have this name garners a certain group of people. For years I have heard about the heartfelt services held there. A friend who is not Catholic, said he would take his family there from time to time since he could feel the faith in the room. Some people crying in contemplative prayer others just quietly seeking an answer to an unanswerable prayer. Therefore I thought to myself I should visit.
The building is very easy to miss, it’s right next to Sol Irlandes, with a beautiful sun mosaic in the façade. The foyer doubles as a religious gift shop, where you will get a friendly greeting. Go through the double doors and the chapel is not too much bigger. The roof swoops up like the bottom of a ship onto stain glass. You will find plenty of places to sit and quietly contemplate or say a little prayer. In the end, that is the true purpose of the chapel. To help bring you to the unexplainable feeling, that God indeed loves you and will not forsake you.
Take a sad song and make it better.

Two tipsy non believers. okay, it was me and my boyfriend after one too many cocktails at Easter brunch, decided to take pics around Down Town Dallas. We had seen St. Jude Chapel the evening before and thought it would be an interesting place to shoot.
We went in after the second Sunday service, being mindful of the parishioners, to scope out the architecture. It was built in the 1960s, and had this great futurist/​Stanley Kubrick look, with inverse domed ceilings and white stucco. It had stained glass windows depicting the stations of the cross that illuminated the chapel beautifully.
We took a few photos, and quietly left, so as not to disturb or offend anyone. It was very serene, and lovely, and when we return to Dallas, I hope to take more pictures.